Friday, September 05, 2008

I was totally ready to post this glorious pack of 1983 Donruss the other night when dayf one-upped me and went all 1983 Topps on this blog.

Well sir, I'll see your ColecoVision offer, and raise you a Chicken T-Shirt offer! Donruss actually made Chicken cards a part of the set in 1982 and 1983 if I'm not mistaken. I bought this pack on eBay (free shipping!), and it's going to be really hard to contain myself from wanting to buy more. With the chance of getting all of the rookies dayf mentioned, PLUS a genuine card of The Chicken, let's take a look at what I pulled...

358 - Roy Howell (this might have given me a point in Thorzul's contest)347 - Omar Moreno (one of the best things about the classic Donruss card back design that held true from 1982 through 1992 is the "Contract Status" line as here we learn that Moreno "became a free agent after 1982" essentially leaving him with a job at press time)

335 - Lou Piniella ("Named batting coach in mid-season in addition to DH chores")324 - Von Hayes (this is just a nice looking card)312 - Milt May301 - Dave Kingman (he was kinda like Adam Dunn, minus the RBI production or the walks... so, okay, not really at all)289 - Danny Darwin (led the Rangers in saves with 7 in 1982... those were different times, they were...)

382 - Frank Viola (Sweet Music! here's a rookie card I never owned, and how silly is it of me to get more excited about this card that pretty much any rookie card I can get out of one of today's packs?)357 - Tippy Martinez346 - Juan Bonilla (you can sponsor his Baseball-Reference.com page for a mere $5 a year)334 - Chuck Rainey323 - Jeff Burroughs (a former MVP with the Rangers in 1974)

311 - Bill Madlock (look at that hat! look at that uniform! look at those stirrups!)369 - Aurelio Rodriguez (was involved in the epic Rodriguez/Wayne Nordhagen deal in 1982)

404 - George Hendrick (I actually didn't have this in my collection, which is nice)- Ty Cobb Puzzle 25-27

Donruss was on a really nice run from 1982 through 1986, but by 1987 the quality of their product really started to fall off due to some quality control disasters and the eventual super-mass production that was to come in subsequent years. I really love the bat and glove motif and by this point the photography, though still inferior to Topps, was starting to come around. As with just about anything I post here, the non-Cardinals cards are up for grabs for any that are interested.

Dave Kingman for HOF! The guy had 442 HR for Pete's sake. (I'm going to make up a stat here and present it as fact) Kingman is the 1st player to ever retire with over 400 HR and NOT be in the hall. (wouldn't it be funny if it turned out that was true). And, he did it before steroids. He did it all on natural ability (and a few greenies).